Up Close: Bonnie Libby

By Charity Corkey

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Although she tries to avoid the “mom role” that might come with being one of the few female professors on campus, Patrick Henry College literature professor Bonnie Libby said she enjoys students stopping by her office and chatting over a cup of tea.

As of yet unmarried with no children of her own, Libby was born in Texas but grew up in Rochester, N.Y. Now a Leesburg resident, she has a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. PHC is not Libby’s first experience at a small, private Christian school: Her undergraduate degree is from Oral Roberts University in south Tulsa, Okla.

Among the courses she teaches currently are Western literature and British literature. This summer, she taught a class on C.S. Lewis that she mostly conducted online. The class kicked off, however, with a trip to England and Scotland.

In this e-mail interview, Libby shared with us her thoughts on teaching students who were homeschooled before coming to college, her faith and unveiling the truths of literature.

Q: Why did you come to Patrick Henry College?

A: I had looked at the school’s Web site a year before I applied for the literature position and was intrigued by it. The school seemed to have a clear vision for Christian development and training in young people, along with an emphasis on the classical liberal arts. And I was drawn to the mission of the college, that here was a place that was unapologetic about making a difference in our society and culture.

But really it was God leading me here and opening up the position. His guidance was very clear.

Q: You used to teach high school students before you came to PHC. How is it different teaching students who were mostly homeschooled during their primary and secondary education?

A: There is something distinctive about homeschooled students. Most are more confident and quick to take initiative, which I love. There are some unique characters, which I also love. Most PHC students pursue their interests without apology or concern over “fitting in” and that makes them challenging and incredibly fun to be around. To say PHC is a campus full of young people entirely devoid of self-consciousness would be false, but there is a refreshing spirit of passionate sincerity coupled with intelligence.

Q: How does your faith influence your teaching of literature?

A: As a reader of literature, I see God’s truth all around. But I also see that great literature has the potential to express truth in a more concrete, potent way. Great books, the “classics,” have stood the test of time because they accurately portray truths about human nature, about how the universe operates, about God. And these books do this by pleasing the imagination through beautiful language while they teach the mind and heart through substance, making us as readers more receptive to the spiritual realities that exist even though expressed in a fictional world.

So, how does my Christian faith affect my teaching? I cannot imagine teaching without a firm foundation in scriptural truth. Plato once said that teaching is a species of friendship, whose highest degree is love, in which persons see each other as integral parts of something greater. I agree with him. It sounds impossibly idealistic, but I like to think that my desire to teach is motivated by love — love for my subject, love for learning, love for the truth, love for my students, love for the God who created us all.

Q: Some of your students come from socially conservative backgrounds. With that in mind, can you tell us how you address suggestive or controversial content in literature?

A: I actually spend a number of classes addressing this head on in my Western literature course for freshmen and sophomores. We talk about how great books will have very little of this “questionable content” that does not serve a purpose, often a very moral purpose. I talk about Samuel Johnson’s maxim that in literature, vice is necessary to be shown, but it must always disgust.

At the same time we talk about the constant allure of sin, and that too often vice (especially our own) does not disgust us. Good literature should illuminate this human tendency and make us care to correct it. Certainly, literature often depicts the baser aspects of human nature; otherwise it wouldn’t be true. But many times we Christians get hung up on the obvious vices like profanity or sexual immorality, while dismissing more prevalent and pernicious moral evils like pride, superiority and envy.

Q: College campuses have changed greatly in the last several years, with the advent of many new technologies that students use and in the kinds of things they expect from their professors and programs. What has changed the most since you were an undergraduate?

A: The Internet has struck! I hear students complaining about fritzed out computers that ate all their papers, but I had no such problems when I was an undergraduate. Laptops were just a gleam in some engineer’s eye! There were computers around, and some fellow students had word processors, but I somehow managed an entire degree with my trusty electric typewriter.

Professors had slides, not PowerPoint presentations. Probably the biggest difference is the almost immediate and constant communication through e-mail.

Q: What is the most controversial book you have included in your syllabus, and why was it controversial?

A: Well, there are always the usual books that are controversial because of subject matter that’s a bit bawdy or crude, like Aristophanes’ “Clouds” or Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath’s Tale,” but some of the best discussions have come from studying books like “Waiting for Godot” or even “Moby Dick” that are written in styles not immediately familiar or accessible to students.

Students wanted to challenge the notion that “Moby Dick” is the “great American classic,” and we had a terrific discussion about whether the novel was a classic just because it’s so long and wandering that people assume it’s great and keep assigning it as an “important work,” or whether there really is a transcendent quality to the story that makes it great.

Q: Back in 2005-06, there was a high turnover of faculty at PHC because of conflicts between the faculty and administration. How have those conflicts affected you?

A: I did begin at PHC in fall 2005, and sort of came in on the middle of the conflicts. Much of it seemed to be interpersonal conflicts. It’s made me realize that even “idyllic” places like PHC can have problems. I was certainly sad to see the way it shook out, but the situation had reached an impasse. I think the school is stronger for it, in the long run.

Q: What is it like to be one of a few female professors at the college?

A: A little lonely at times, but it can be fun, too. I tend to be a little quiet in faculty meetings where lots of “dominant males” go at it, but they are all gentlemen and very collegial.

Q: After finals are over, what knowledge do you want your students to walk away with?

A: I want my students to walk away with a greater appreciation for literature as an art form and as a relevant source of wisdom about life. I want them to have their sensibilities awakened by fine language and metaphor and imagery, by the beauty of a scene depicted in literature. I hope my course has helped train their emotions, even in a small way, toward the Good and helped them acquire a taste for beauty.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your family life.

I’m not married, no kids. It’s not that I’ve chosen career over family; it’s just what God seems to have for me for now. I would love to have a family, sooner rather than later, but I’m trying to be patient. It would be difficult to do this job full-tilt and have a family, but I think the college would be flexible if that were to happen.

Q: Tell us a little bit about where you live. What is your favorite thing about living in Loudoun County?

A: I’ve lived in Leesburg since moving to the area in July 2005. It was an adjustment living in such a small town (having lived in Denver and Greensboro before this). Although compared to Purcellville, Leesburg is quite the metropolis! I’m still renting, but looking for just the right place to buy.

I live about five minutes from my church, Potomac Hills Presbyterian, and I love being close to fellow members and friends.

I continue to be astonished at the amount of traffic in seemingly small towns like Leesburg and Purcellville, but it is really nice to be close to Washington, D.C. I can drive in to the Metro on a Saturday and spend the day with friends seeing museums and monuments and enjoying great restaurants.

Plus, there is beautiful countryside and opportunities for outdoor recreation in Loudoun County, a sort of “away from it all” feel if you go a little bit into the country.

Q: Tell us something about yourself that might surprise your students.

A: I am teaching children’s church at my church in Leesburg once a month, and it’s amazing that a room full of college students scares me far less than a bunch of 5-year-olds who are long on energy and short on attention!

Tagged: patrick henry college, Purcellville, religion, Up Close

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